With Carmel Bay glistening behind him on Sunday afternoon, Rory McIlroy was asked by a Sky Sports reporter if we had all just witnessed 72 holes of peak Rory.
McIlroy took a second, a dominant AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am victory fresh in his mind.
“I’m close,” he answered. “I’m pretty close.”
For four days, McIlroy drove it like Jack and Tiger in their primes, long – ridiculously long, at an average clip of 336.7 yards – and straight. He gained 5.97 strokes on the field off the tee, about a shot and a half better than the next best player in this 80-man, $20 million signature event.
He flighted balls with ease and beautifully carved shots around the prestigious seaside links, even in blustery conditions. With the weather at its absolute worst on Saturday, McIlroy put a 7-under 65 on the board. His closing 66 was equally elite. After turning tied for the lead, McIlroy flushed a 6-iron 160 yards from a fairway bunker to 17 feet at No. 10 (birdie), threw a 189-yard dart with 7-iron to 9 feet at No. 12 (birdie) and then on one of the PGA Tour’s toughest par-5s, No. 14, he launched a 339-yard drive and followed with a 229-yard second shot to 7 feet, this time carding eagle and effectively ending this tournament.
“The way he was playing today, it was kind of, you know, I certainly probably wasn’t good enough to beat him,” said Shane Lowry, runner-up by two shots to McIlroy’s 21-under total, the second-best ever at this tournament, behind only Brandt Snedeker’s 22 under in 2015.
It’s all infinitely more extraordinary considering McIlroy had just changed TaylorMade balls, to the TP5, after hitting chips around The Grove XXIII the Thursday before flying to Pebble. They launch a degree lower and with similar spin to the TP5x he was using, McIlroy says.
They apparently go in the hole quicker, too.
McIlroy kickstarted the week with an ace at Spyglass Hill’s 119-yard 15th hole, his sixth hole of the tournament. Entering this new year, McIlroy had determined, along with his sports psych, Dr. Bob Rotella, that for as far as he drives the ball, he should earn himself about 50 shots from 150 yards and in per tournament. Even if on the longer shots he’s actually more conservative these days – an ode to Scottie Scheffler – McIlroy could afford to be ultra-aggressive with the scoring clubs.
“We just talk about taking dead aim,” said McIlroy, who made 10 birdies or better from those types of approaches this week.
McIlroy can do that when he’s not babying wedge shots, uncertain of where they may fly. He spent considerable time on a swing change last fall, beating balls into a screen for two straight weeks. He has two wins and nothing worse than T-4 since – with some casual rounds mixed in at bucket-list courses such as Ohoopee Match Club in Georgia, Tara Iti in New Zealand and this week, nearby Cypress Point for the first time.
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am payout: Rory McIlroy wins big chunk of $20 million purse
Breakdown of the $20 million purse for the PGA Tour’s signature event at Pebble Beach, including McIlroy’s very large winner’s check.
“I’m maybe not searching as much,” he said earlier this week.
By Sunday afternoon, with McIlroy in his patented strut down Pebble’s famed 18th fairway, there was no doubt.
“It was nice to have the time to stand there and just honestly look at one of the most beautiful holes in golf and enjoy it, enjoy that stroll up 18 and not feel like there was too much pressure,” said McIlroy, who added that he was more concerned with where his pal Lowry would finish (Lowry ended up solo second, a shot clear of Justin Rose and Lucas Glover).
Scheffler, competing for the first time since a severe right-hand injury suffered on Christmas Day, tied for ninth. He has won eight times and not finished outside the top but twice in 20 starts since the start of last year’s Pebble event.
Collin Morikawa ended up 10 shots back of McIlroy, Justin Thomas was 14 behind, and Jordan Spieth lost by a whopping 21.
McIlroy’s triumph marked the 27th of the 35-year-old’s PGA Tour career, putting McIlroy just two behind England’s Harry Cooper for second all-time among international players (Vijay Singh has the most wins, with 34). But it was his first at Pebble Beach – non-pro-am division, as he and partner Jeff Rhodes teamed to win last year’s team title – and first at one of what many would consider the cathedrals of the sport.
Augusta National.
The Old Course at St. Andrews.
Classic U.S. Open venues such as Oakmont, Shinnecock and Pinehurst.
“There are some venues in our game that just mean a little bit more than others, and that’s probably to do with the history and the people that have won on those courses, and what those people have meant to the game of golf,” said McIlroy, who has lifted major titles at four venues, of which Royal Liverpool, where McIlroy captured his most recent major title, 11 years ago, is arguably the most prestigious.
“I had a big fat zero on all of those going in here.”
While McIlroy’s CV is certainly more comprehensive, so, too, is his golf game right now. No, this Pebble test was no U.S. Open, so McIlroy takes this win with a “pinch of salt,” he says. But it does prove that McIlroy can win anytime, anywhere.
“I finally feel that my game can travel to any sort of golf course, in any conditions, in any setup really,” McIlroy said. “I feel like I’m a very well-rounded golfer, and I can adapt to whatever I need to adapt to…
“Anything that I feel is thrown my way in the game, I feel like I’m prepared to handle it.”
Sounds like something peak Rory would say.
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